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29.04.20

7 ways to use speech synthesis in education

Text to Speech (TTS) technology works on almost all digital devices, including computers, smartphones, and tablets. All you need is text to reproduce. Moreover, it can be complemented with other speech technologies. What we are developing is becoming part of the EdTech market, which has already surpassed $ 7.5 billion. More and more companies are being launched that aren’t only aiming to change school and university education, they are also engaged in the training and retraining of specialists.

Most people use speech recognition technology without even noticing it, through voice assistants, smart devices, and voice typing. By 2023, the speech recognition market is expected to reach $ 16 billion.
Strategies for using it

Equal learning opportunities
For students with dyslexia studying their native language or a foreign one, it can be difficult to create an inclusive school environment. TTS has been proven to improve student performance. The technology also saves money that would have been spent on creating individual training programs since TTS is a more effective solution for reading problems.
Simplification of the reading process
For most students, reading is a tedious process, but it can be simplified through the use of technology. For example, when a student is tired of reading, they can put on their headphones and continue by using TTS. Studies show that technology helps students focus on the content of the material, rather than the reading process, which improves their understanding.

Put in any text and listen to how it sounds. It can be read in the demo with different emotions, and in full version it can be in any voice. All you have to do is click on the "Speak" button in the e-book or textbook to simplify the reading process.
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TTS helps you work with text
People are often too lazy to read a written text or just feel awkward when doing it out loud. And listening to your words can be useful: you might notice missed punctuation marks, typos, or inconsistencies.
Virtual HR assistant
You can use it to help with new employee adaptation: develop a training program and add a knowledge base and FAQ. Even long-serving employees can ask questions without hesitation.
Interactive learning
TTS can be used in conjunction with a computer vision system to serve as a virtual mentor who will teach you how to work with equipment. For example, you can get tips on car repair or learn how to make chicken cutlets.

Platforms with virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and speech recognition can provide a personalized approach for employees. For example, your sales staff can practice with virtual customers and communicate with the machine as if it's a real person. This will help them prepare for real customer interaction.
Language practice
This is an important aspect of learning a foreign language because this is how material is consolidated and pronunciation is remembered. But not everyone is able to communicate with a native speaker or can afford a trip to a language camp, and some people are simply too shy to speak a foreign language with others. Speech technologies can help people overcome language barriers.

We are currently developing a chatbot to help with learning English. The person communicates with a bot with built-in GPT-2, which records incorrect pronunciation and other errors in their speech, and then produces a report and asks them to repeat those words.
Improving literacy
There are more than 780 million people around the world who cannot read or write. This mostly applies to Central Africa and West Asia, where 76% of the illiterate population resides. Speech synthesis and recognition systems can make information and learning more accessible to these people. We donate 1% of our resources to projects to improve literacy.

What technologies are being used?
Text to speech
is based on machine learning. This technology can be used to convert text to speech, generate music or speech, create voice-enabled devices, develop navigation systems, and implement accessibility for people with visual impairments. For example, Stephen Hawking used TTS to communicate with other people.
1
Automatic speech recognition
is more complex than TTS because you need to convert spoken language under imperfect conditions when there are external noises, pronunciation peculiarities, or other types of interference. This technology is most often used for virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa.
2
Natural language understanding
is used in conjunction with the previous two technologies. It can be used to automate call center and support service operations, and to teach bots and smart devices to communicate.
3
Lipsync
makes it possible to compare the movement of the lips of the speaker or singer with the pre-recorded voice that you are hearing. You can use it to bring more life to a virtual assistant, teacher, or game character.
4
GPT-2
is a language model that was trained on 8 million web pages. It knows how to predict the next word in a text based on the previous context. The model also recognizes text, answers questions, and translates phrases without additional training.
5
BERT
is a linguistic model from Google that helps understand and process text in natural language. Companies use it to train their own models, and it helps Google understand the context in search queries.
6
Benefits of speech recognition platforms
The economic benefit
Automated training is cheaper than a teacher working individually with each student or employee.
Personalization
The machine adapts to each person and analyzes their strengths and weaknesses. A further training program is built based on this data and then error correction can be carried out. That way everyone is able to achieve similar results.
Simulated reality
Technology can be used to recreate real-life situations and dialogs to work on specific skills. For example, someone could use it to brush up on their English before a trip, or someone else who going to be speaking at an IT conference. Or one employee needs to learn how to communicate with high-level customers, while another needs to handle negative situations with clients. Real stories can be created for each of these situations.
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